NICOLA Sturgeon has hit back at Douglas Ross after he claimed she spent more time “attacking” the NHS in other parts of UK rather than focusing on what can be changed in Scotland.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Nicola Sturgeon responded to a question about NHS waiting times by highlighting that accident and emergency units in Scotland are the best performing in the UK.
She added that delayed discharges are lower in Scotland than in England and Wales and that there are more GPs per 100,000 people in Scotland than the rest of the UK.
She said: “If Douglas Ross is saying that the challenges in the health service are all about the SNP, he has to recognise the relative performance of our NHS compared to other parts of the UK.”
However, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives responded by claiming that Nicola Sturgeon was “attacking” the health service in other parts of the UK.
WATCH: Nicola Sturgeon takes the Tories to task over criticism of Scotland's NHS 👇 pic.twitter.com/oCpJBrAg5q
— The National (@ScotNational) December 8, 2022
“I think it’s shameful that the First Minister dedicates more of her time attacking the NHS in other parts of the United Kingdom than focusing on what she can do here in Scotland," he said.
“Because it is absolutely clear that more has to be more done to tackle the crisis in Scotland’s NHS. There’s a crisis in our A&E departments, there’s a crisis with delayed discharges, and there’s a crisis at GP practices.
“All of this adds up to healthcare that doesn’t deliver for patients.”
But the First Minister rebuked Ross’s framing of her comments and insisted: “Douglas Ross started his last question that I spent more time attacking the health service elsewhere than I did talking about the Scottish health service.
“I have not attacked the health service anywhere. Secondly, I think anybody reviewing the official report of this session will see that that is just factually inaccurate.
“When Douglas Ross puts it to me that the problems in our National Health Service are unique to Scotland, and they are worse in Scotland because of this government, it is reasonable for me to point out that that is not the case.
“That despite the challenges that nobody here is shying away from, our NHS performs better than its counterparts in England and Wales.”
She added that had the Scottish Government taken his advice to follow the lead of Liz Truss’s mini-Budget, the NHS in Scotland would have suffered.
“It was not that long ago that Douglas Ross was demanding I cut taxes for the richest people in our country.
“Had I followed his advice we’d have had to take investment out of our National Health Service, which is why few people will take Douglas Ross or the Conservatives seriously when it comes to trust on the National Health Service.”
It comes as the Royal College of Nursing prepares to strike in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Strikes have been put on hold in Scotland while the union ballots its members on an improved pay offer from the Scottish Government.
